Lawyers reveal delay in Spanish court case

LAWYERS in Spain involved with a court case concerning an East Staffordshire businessman have revealed it has been delayed – and efforts are now being made to ‘get the case moving’.

Judges in Madrid have been looking over a raft of new evidence in a case involving Colin Thomas, of Town Hill, Yoxall, to decide whether it can be accepted as part of an effort to uncover the truth behind an alleged property scam.

Millionaire Mr Thomas previously told the court his company, Ocean View Properties, had no link with the multi-million pound scam. The firm is accused of defrauding customers out of hundreds of thousands of pounds in lost deposits.

The case had reached a ‘critical stage’ but has since been delayed, with top legal professionals now trying to find out why it has stalled.

A claim is now expected to be made by Marbella-based firm Lawbird in a bid to ‘get some movement’

A Lawbird spokesman said: “We have been requesting several evidences and also the lawyer of the defendants has been asking for more evidences.

“The important thing is that we fulfil correctly all the legal requirements for each step during the investigation phase.”

The criminal claim for fraud and misappropriation of funds was lodged in February 2011.

Ocean View Properties was set up in 2001 by Mr Thomas and other businessmen.

It was behind a string of successful overseas property enterprises but ran into difficulties when it became involved as a UK agent for developer Ricardo Miranda Miret.

More than 1,000 British investors lost their money after the firm was formally dissolved in 2009.

Mr Thomas is currently banned from being a company director for nine years following an Insolvency Service investigation. However, he was cleared by the Serious Fraud Office and Staffordshire Police

Mr Thomas and others accused have all ‘strongly denied’ any wrongdoing.